


Cards on the Table

by Flynne



Series: Thaddeus Ryder [1]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 20:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14480139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flynne/pseuds/Flynne
Summary: Gil and Thaddeus talk after the raid on the Archon's ship. It's just a little conversation, but it's the start of everything.





	Cards on the Table

Thad sighed and shoved his datapad aside, letting his head fall back to stare at the ceiling. He’d been sitting up in bed trying to read the same page for ten minutes but hadn’t made any headway. Lexi had been insistent that he stay in the med bay for a few hours, in spite of his and SAM’s assurances that he was fine. _“I’ll decide that for myself, thank you,”_ had been her tart reply before she’d firmly - and pointedly - tucked him in.

He lifted his head when the door hissed open, rolling his eyes a little. “I thought you said you weren’t going to hover.” But it wasn’t Lexi standing in the doorway. “…Oh, hi.”

Gil stuffed his hands in his coverall pockets. “Hey.”

“I thought you were Lexi.”

“I figured.” Gil shuffled into the room. The door closed behind him.

Thad waited to see if Gil would say anything else, but he didn’t. So after a moment, he smirked. “Got lost on your way to the drive core, did you?”

Gil snorted. “Now that’s just insulting.” But he came over to stand next to the bed. “You all right?”

“I’m fine. Lexi’s just worried. Wants me hooked up to a heart monitor on the way back to the Nexus to make sure I don’t have any arrhythmias.” He gestured to the leads under his t-shirt. “SAM could do it but she wants to do it herself.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” He looked Thad over. “SAM really did kill you, then. I wondered if maybe Suvi was exaggerating.”

Thad shrugged. “For like thirty seconds. Give or take.”

“Give or take,” Gil echoed. “Did you know he could do that?”

“Not until he told me.”

“Hell of a special feature for an AI.”

“You could say that.”

Gil let out a sharp breath, fidgeted a little, then said, “Look, I don’t know if we’ve got a thing, or if you’ve just been flirting for fun - either way’s fine by me, and either way, I can’t tell you what to do. But just…don’t let SAM do that again, all right?”

Thad raised an eyebrow. “Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that if I _hadn’t_ let SAM do it, I’d be dead anyway. Or part of the kett science fair. And so would Jaal and Drack.”

Gil grimaced and looked away. “I know. It was a stupid thing to say, but I had to say it. Humor me.”

Thad was quiet for a minute before saying in a low voice, “It’s a thing.”

“What?”

“You and me. This. It’s a thing.” Gil looked at him. Thad smiled a little. “I mean. It is if you want it to be.”

Gil’s mouth opened, then shut. Then opened again as he spoke. “Well, all right, then.”

Thad grinned as he saw the ruddy flush that was slowly creeping up Gil’s cheeks. “All right, then.”

Gil kicked the leg of his bed. “Don’t look so smug. Or I won’t let you win.” He took a deck of cards out of his pocket and swatted at Thad’s feet through the blanket until he pulled them back to make room for him to sit at the end of the bed.

Thad scoffed. “Please. I only let you _think_ you let me win.”

“Whatever lets you sleep at night,” Gil deadpanned. He gave the deck a quick shuffle, and began to deal.


End file.
